Massachusetts man charged with impersonating FBI agent

BOSTON — A Massachusetts man was arrested Friday and charged with impersonating a federal agent for a scheme in which prosecutors said he convinced two acquaintances to pay thousands of dollars to secure work from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Federal prosecutors charged that 28-year-old Gjerji Pelushi, who is originally from Albania and now lives in Melrose, Massachusetts, claimed to be an FBI agent and told his two victims that he had patrolled this year’s Boston Marathon, under orders to shoot potential attackers on sight.

One victim paid Pelushi $20,000 over the course of several years and gave him a car in exchange for phony training that included trailing people, tasks that the victim believed would lead to him securing a position with the FBI, according to court papers.

A second victim paid Pelushi thousands of dollars to get a state court case dismissed, prosecutors said.